The Trumpet of the Swan (2020 film)
| producer = | story = | screenplay = | based on = | starring = | music = James Newton Howard | editing = Tim Mertens | cinematography = Phil Méheux | studio = | distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures | released = | country = United States | language = English }} 'The Trumpet of the Swan' is an upcoming American-Spanish computer-animated drama film that is based on the book by E.B. White. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Entertainment and produced by Movie Land Animation Studios and Skydance Media. The film title will be released on March 27, 2020. Plot Based on E. B. White's popular children's book of the same name, it tells the story of a young trumpeter swan who is born with muteness and is vying for the attention of a beautiful pen. He overcomes this by learning to play the trumpet. In Canada during the spring of 1968, the cob (the name for an adult male swan) and the pen (the name for an adult female swan), both trumpeter swans, build their summer nest on a small island in a pond. The swans are worried when Sam Beaver, an 11-year-old boy on a camping trip with his father, begins coming to the lake everyday to watch them; the cob believes that human boys are dangerous. One day while the pen steps away from her eggs to stretch her legs, a fox slips up behind her. Sam chases the fox away, saving both the female and her eggs. After this incident, the swans begin to trust him. After the hatching of their cygnets, the cob proudly leads his brood to Sam to introduce them. The cygnets each chirp at Sam in greeting, except for the youngest who is named Louis and is unable to chirp but pulls Sam's shoelace instead. The adult swans gradually realize that Louis is mute. The adults grow increasingly concerned about Louis, worrying that he will not be able to find a mate if he cannot trumpet like all the other swans. Louis's father promises to find a way for him to communicate. At the end of summer, the swan family flies to the winter refuge, Red Rock Lakes in Montana. Louis decides he should learn to read and write in order to communicate, and flies away from the refuge to visit Sam Beaver. Sam takes his swan friend to school with him the next morning. Louis turns out to be a natural at reading and writing, and Sam buys him a portable blackboard and chalk so he can communicate. Unfortunately, because the other swans cannot read, Louis is still lonely. When Louis returns to the Red Rock Lakes, he falls in love with a young swan, Serena, but cannot attract her attention. Louis's father is aware that trumpeter swans are named after the human musical instrument and becomes determined to acquire a trumpet as a substitute "voice" for Louis. The cob crashes through the window of a music store in Billings, Montana and steals a brass trumpet on a cord. By the time Louis learns to effectively play the trumpet, Serena has migrated north. Instead of accompanying his family north where he might have to face Serena again, Louis visits Sam on his ranch and explains that he feels guilty about the stolen trumpet. Sam suggests that Louis get a job so he can pay the store for the trumpet and the damaged window. He helps Louis find a position as camp bugler at Camp Kookooskoos, the boys' camp Sam attends. Louis convinces Sam to split one of his webbed feet with a razor blade, making "fingers" so that he can play more notes. Over the course of the summer, Louis plays taps, reveille, and mess call, and composes a love song for Serena. He also receives a Lifesaving Medal for rescuing a drowning camper. At the end of the summer, he has earned $100, which he carries in a waterproof pouch around his neck along with his slate, chalk, medal, and trumpet. Sam suggests that Louis get a job with the Swan Boats in Boston. Louis flies across country and becomes an instant success, with a salary of $100 per week and a private suite in the Ritz Hotel. A Philadelphia nightclub offers Louis a higher salary, $500 per week. He leaves Boston and takes up temporary residence at the Philadelphia Zoo. The zookeeper promises that because Louis is only a guest, he will not be pinioned (have a wing tip cut off to prevent escape) like all the other swans at the zoo. One stormy night, Serena, blown off course, falls into the Zoo's Bird Lake. Louis serenades her by playing "Beautiful Dreamer" on his trumpet, and she falls in love with him, impressed by his song and the numerous possessions hanging around his neck. When the zookeepers spot Serena, they try to clip her wings, and Louis attacks them. He convinces the Head Man to postpone the operation for a short while and sends a telegram to Sam, asking for help. Sam goes to Philadelphia and strikes a deal with the Head Man: in every clutch of cygnets, there is always one that needs special care, just as Louis did in his own family. If the Head Man will let Louis and Serena go free, they will donate one of their cygnets to the zoo every year. Louis and Serena fly back to the Red Rock Lakes. Now intending to live the rest of his life among other swans, he no longer needs his slate. Louis writes an apology on the slate and gives it and the money bag to his father, who flies back to the music store in Billings. Afraid that the swan will destroy another window, the storekeeper shoots the cob in the shoulder, but is amazed to find the note and the money, which amounts to several times the cost of both the stolen trumpet and the window. Because the cob is a protected species, he is taken to a wildlife veterinarian, where his injury is treated. When he is recovered, he flies back to the Red Rock Lakes to rejoin his family, including Louis and Serena. Many years later, when Sam is about 20 years old, he is again camping in Canada when he hears the sound of a trumpet playing across the lake and knows it must be Louis. He writes in his journal: ''"Tonight I heard Louis's horn. My father heard it, too. The wind was right, and I could hear the notes of taps, just as darkness fell. There is nothing in all the world I like better than the trumpet of the swan." Cast Production It will announce the new version of this motion picture. Jamie Chung will direct this motion picture. The film title will be in development on February 7, 2014 and it will be in production on December 3, 2017. Development Movie Land Animation Studios had already begun the process of starting development of movies with budgets of around $320 million. The intellectual property for these films was meant to be supplied by Movie Land Animation Studios among others and included Penguinopolis, Smash of Claws, The Animals in the Attic and Stickman 2: Larry's Adventure had been approaching the original crew from the television series to make a high-profile, animated theatrical feature-length film adaptation and had long wanted to partner with Warner Bros. Pictures to release the film given the network's extraordinary legacy in the world of animation, including some of the most enduring characters on cable television history. Karey Kirkpatrick and Jamie Chung agreed to make a feature film version of the show with the promise it would be the first of a planned trilogy. During development stages of the film, he and his co-director Conrad Vernon intended to revisit some of the greatest films of the time, with Over the Hedge having the core inspirations for the film. Animation The visual effects and animation from the movie was created by Movie Land Digital Production Services who had made 2,100 shots. The film's animation was made using Autodesk Maya. Design The crew used the same processes from the original television series in the making of the film, most notably the 'skroutlines', which was a seamless blend of a more traditional screenplay with a more simple outline which resembled strong short stories and gave the storyboard artists such as Maurice Fontenot, Abigail Nesbitt and Guy Moore all the creative and aesthetic freedom neccessary. Warburton and Willems themselves provided the film's animatics. Music The music from the film is composed by James Newton Howard. Marketing The teaser trailer was released on July 2, 2019 before Spider-Man: Far From Home in theaters and was released online. The first trailer was released on September 27, 2019 before Abominable in theaters and was released online. The final trailer was released on January 12, 2020 before Dolittle and Cool Girls in theaters and was released online. Release The film title will be released on March 27, 2020 in IMAX, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema and 2D theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures. References External links Coming soon! Category:2020s American animated films Category:2020s films Category:2020s American films Category:American films Category:Spanish films Category:Upcoming animated films Category:Films featuring anthropomorphic characters Category:Warner Bros. films Category:Warner Bros. animated films Category:Movie Land Animation Studios films Category:Skydance Media films Category:Films scored by James Newton Howard Category:IMAX films Category:Upcoming IMAX films Category:Animated buddy films Category:Animated films based on children's books Category:Films based on children's books Category:2020 animated films Category:English-language films Category:Upcoming English-language films Category:Spanish-language films Category:Upcoming Spanish-language films Category:2020s Spanish animated films Category:Spanish animated films Category:Films directed by Jamie Chung Category:Films set in Canada Category:Films set in 1968 Category:Films set in Philadelphia Category:Films with screenplays by Andrew Stanton Category:Films with screenplays by Christopher McQuarrie